A gathering of the Sociology of Religion Research Group of the British Sociological Association gives Professor Richard H. Robert an opportunity to discuss the shifting patterns concerning discourse about religion in academe, the secular intellectual environment and the paradigm of glocalism.

As I have observed in previous articles arising from my 2011 Ghana trip, economic and political life here is comparatively stable and prosperous, and there has been substantial growth over the past decade - but how benefits are assessed very much depends on perspective. Structurally, and in terms of levelling income and power distribution, things look much less rosy, for sure.

If you want Western-style consumption, you'll find it in abundance at the Accra Mall. But thankfully, there are many in West Africa keen to encourage sustainable tourism that is both environmentally and culturally sensitive.

Travelling around as a comparatively prosperous person in a country marked by significant poverty and inequality is not easy - unless you are largely insensitive to these things, which sadly, some Westerners seem to be, just reckoning that "this is simply the way things are" and revelling in how much their overvalued dollar can buy.

Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on globalisation, economics and poverty must set the tone for a new approach to global development which ensures dignity for all people and long-term environmental sustainability, says Progressio.